10th Thessaloniki Pride

LESSON IN ACCEPTANCE

10 years after the 1st Thessaloniki Pride, a milestone for our city and the Greek LGBTI movement, Thessaloniki is preparing for the anniversary 10th edition of Thessaloniki Pride. As the corona pandemic is receding, the festival comes back in June, the Pride month, when it traditionally takes place, and is expected to unite the entire city and its visitors into a massive outdoor celebration of love and acceptance. The 10th Thessaloniki Pride will start on Monday 20 June and, through a series of events, will reach its peak on Saturday 25 June 2022 with the grand parade from the White Tower.

Thessaloniki Pride, like any LGBTI visibility event, is an important and experiential “LESSON IN ACCEPTANCE”. With this expression as the main slogan, we want to bring educational issues to the forefront. Seizing the opportunity of the ongoing educational reform we aim to trigger the discourse about the importance of inclusive education and a safe school environment, open to all people, without discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, and narrow regulatory standards for homogenising normativities.

It is generally accepted that education plays an importand and active role in shaping human character from an early age. Adding sex education to schools will be an important step towards familiarisation with gender and sexual diversity, which until now has been limited to some occasional and incomplete biology references or temporary and optional updates that rely heavily on from the sensitivity of each teacher. An inclusive school environment is beneficial for all children, but also for teachers, who do not fit into the heteronormal paradigm.

Based on the aforementioned topic, there will be again various events in the program of the 10th Thessaloniki Pride. They will include exhibitions, discussions, information kiosks, music and other artistic events, interactive games in the city and of course the grand parade. Our purpose is to inform, raise awareness, entertain and to spark the debate on burning issues.